acquisitive
adjective
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While acquisitive is a useful synonym of the likes of greedy and avaricious, it's relatively unknown compared to its more popular lexical relations, acquire and acquisition. The former of that pair is most often used to mean "to get as one's own," as in "skills acquired through practice"; the latter refers either to the act of acquiring something, as in "the acquisition of skills," or to something or someone acquired or gained, as in "the museum's recent acquisitions." All three have as their ultimate source the Latin word acquīrere, meaning "to acquire." While acquire and acquisition have both been in use since the 15th century, acquisitive is a bit younger. The word has a somewhat rare use meaning "capable of acquiring" that dates to the late 16th century, but its "greedy" meaning dates only to the early 19th century.
Examples of acquisitive in a Sentence
Peter High, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025
Infinite Reality, which is building a headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was founded in 2019 and has been acquisitive in recent months, buying companies such as the Drone Racing League, Landvault and virtual reality retail brand Obsess.
—Kif Leswing, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2025
Fremantle was incredibly acquisitive around three years back but its only big M&A deal in the past year has been Red Planet maker Asacha and Beach House, although these were splashy.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2025
Not only is China’s population (1.4 billion) enormous, that same population is increasingly acquisitive.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for acquisitive
Cite this Entry
“Acquisitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquisitive. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
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acquisitive
adjective
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